


Peace

by autumnsolstice9



Series: Justice [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 00:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16460195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnsolstice9/pseuds/autumnsolstice9
Summary: “What we do, we do together. We’re a team.”Or: Hinata returns to her team





	Peace

**Author's Note:**

> team 8 just loves each other so much...... im so :'-)

When Shino sees Hinata silently appear by his and Kiba’s side as they sit in a field waiting for war, he nearly cries. Kiba, unsurprisingly, actually cries and throws himself into her side while Akamaru licks her face all over. His breath is definitely caught somewhere in his throat, and even though he knew she would return eventually he can’t believe it. 

Hinata is _back._

He takes her hand in his while Kiba and Akamaru continue to attack her with tears and kisses, and she gives him a small smile. He quickly scans her face, taking note of the tiny cut on her upper lip, how her cheekbones stick out just a bit more than they did before she left, the scratches on her forehead. 

Shino pauses when he sees the cut that goes towards her eye. It extends from the middle of her forehead and stops just above her eye itself, the scar thick like those Shikaku has. His mouth feels dry and his kikaichu click in anger. Someone hurt Hinata, nearly ruined her eye, and the irrational side of him wants to immediately find who did this and hurt them.

“It’s okay,” Hinata tells him as if she could read his thoughts, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles, “I’m safe.”

His throat feels clogged with some emotion he cannot name, and a traitorous tear escapes. “We were so worried,” he tells her, tightening his grip on her hand. He’s half-scared that this is some cruel genjutsu- Hinata has been gone for months, and here she is, returning when they are in a war. Part of him is surprised, whispering that there are too many risks, that she is a missing-nin and there’s a high chance they’ll all die and she will never be able to bring her clan justice. The other part, deep in his chest, knows Hinata would never leave them to fight a battle like this alone.

Kiba finally lets go of Hinata, wiping tears from his face. He’s uncharacteristically quiet, staring at Hinata as if it will be his final chance to look.

Shino is afraid that it might be.

“I wouldn’t leave you two behind, not for something like this.” Hinata tells them. He knows this is true, but he also knows that, despite understanding her reasons for leaving, he felt abandoned. Team 8 had suddenly become two people, and part of him wanted to ask Hinata why she left by herself. Why didn’t she take them along with her? Why did she think she had to do it alone?

There are few people Shino would be illogical for. Hinata is one of them. He and Kiba had remained strong when people whispered about them, how they couldn’t stop their teammate from defecting. They had channelled Kurenai-sensei’s inner strength when Naruto came asking questions they couldn’t answer.

Naruto had accused them of with-holding information, and some of that was true. Some of it, they just didn’t know. It had left Shino on edge- he didn’t know if Hinata was safe, if she was even alive, when she would return.

He didn’t know why she thought she had to become strong on her own when they were a team and supposed to do things together.

Hinata twists her hand beneath his, turning it over so she can clasp their fingers together and effectively drawing him out of his thoughts. Her other hand is intertwined with Kiba’s, and Akamaru rests his head on her knee. 

“Hinata, we didn’t know if you were alive,” he tells her. The fear that has sat heavy in his stomach since she left remains, and he looks at the thick scar on her face and wonders if he could have stopped her from getting hurt. If he and Kiba had been there, they could have protected her, they could have shared the weight of the world that rests on her shoulders.

Kiba glances at him, and he knows somewhere deep in his bones that they both feel the same way. Inuzuka’s have their pack, and they would fiercely defend it, but separation ate at their souls. They have survived with Hinata gone, but the feeling of incompleteness was smothering. Kiba quickly flickers his gaze away, back towards where Hinata is staring at their clasped hands in her lap. “Please,” Kiba says, voice heavy with despair, “Don’t leave us again. We know why you left, but please, don’t leave us behind again.”

Hinata is still staring at their hands when she answers. “I don’t want to promise anything. What if I’m not strong enough? What if I have to leave again?”

“Then take us with you,” Shino says, Kiba nodding his head in agreement. It’s something he’s thought about for weeks. They’re a team, they have always had each other’s backs. If Hinata is facing a battle, then team 8 will face it together. For months, Shino has been plagued with ideas of Hinata dying alone, of her becoming crazed like Sasuke. His faith in her strength has never wavered, but they are shinobi. Even the most powerful can fall.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Hinata says, finally looking up at his face. There is love in her gaze, but there is also so much grief.

Shino is struck by how much she must be hurting. Kiba and Shino ached with her gone, and in his own sorrow he forgot how Hinata must have also spent her waking hours wishing she could return home.

“This is us offering,” Kiba tells her. “What we do, we do together. We’re a team.”

Hinata cries silent tears, and they spend the night cuddled in a big pile. They know that there is death and destruction waiting for them, but for the first time in a long time, Shino feels at peace.

***

They lose her during the battle, but Shino can’t pause to think about it. He keeps attacking the nin in front of him and tries not to let his desperation to find Hinata leak into his jutsu.

Kiba fights his way towards him. “Can you smell her?” Shino shouts towards him, the terror of losing Hinata shared between them. 

His teammate nervously shakes his head, “No, there’s too much blood and too many people.” Fear dances along his features, the once confident Kiba reduced to a scared shinobi at the thought of Hinata being gone once again.

Shino hears the crackle of lightning in the air right before a bolt shoots past him and towards an approaching nin. The chakra feels achingly familiar-

Hinata.

He doesn’t know when she learned to do that, but he knows that from wherever she is, she is close enough to protect their backs. Some of his fear dissipates, and he continues launching clouds of kikaichu at opponents.

The air smells of blood and he can feel his chakra drain, but Hinata and Kiba are strong to make up for where he is weak. They have been from the very start of their days as genin. He is tense with adrenaline, but in the distance he hears Hinata give a fierce battle cry and feels at ease.

***

Peace, Shino thinks, is short-lived, even when your country is just three teammates who want to live freely. His body is sore and he has lost sight of his team when he feels the nine-tails chakra begin to sweep over the field.

Shino’s blood runs cold when he hears Naruto scream Hinata’s name. He looks towards the jinchuuriki, and it is not fear of the kyuubi that makes him lose control.

It is Hinata’s barely visible body splayed out on the battlefield. 

For once in his life, he doesn’t think. Shino feels rage and grief bubble in his body, and his kikaichu respond accordingly.

He can hear someone saying something about calming down Naruto before he kills everyone there, Akamaru’s howls, Kiba’s shouts. He can hear the echo of blood in his ears.

Shino looks towards Hinata’s body, and he screams.

**Author's Note:**

> ooh a cliff hanger??????? ;-)))))))
> 
> anyways shino and kiba are ride or die and thats the facts
> 
> will be updated soon!!!!!!!


End file.
